Fencers lose more than win in home invitational

After Sunday's invitational, Blitzer admitted there are aspects of his fencing he needs to work on.

Facing the likes of the nation’s top- ranked Columbia and rival Notre Dame, both the men’s and women’s fencing team each went 2-3 at the St. John’s Invitational on Sunday.

One day after competing in the NYU Invitational, the men’s team knocked off Ohio State and Harvard but lost to Notre Dame, Penn State and Columbia, the latter by one point. The women’s squad was defeated by Columbia, Notre Dame and Ohio State despite victories over Harvard and Penn State.

St. John’s has been dealing with injuries throughout the season and numerous freshmen fencers on the roster.

“We don’t have a full team this year,” Gelman said. “I think we’re going to do better in Temple [Invitational].”

He also expects fencers from both the men’s and women’s teams to improve individually and rose from their current NCAA Coaches Poll rankings, seventh and 10th respectively, to at least sixth.

“We’ll do as best as we can,” he said.

Junior Isis Washington posted a 14-1 record Sunday and a combined 28-2 for the weekend; she can’t complain about Sunday’s performance.

“I’m just prepping for Regionals,” she said after a day-long competition.”I’m just working with the team to get better.”